Thursday’s biggest gaining and declining stocks

Sprint Nextel, J.C. Penney, Dollar Tree, MetroPCS

MattAndrejczak

A previous version of this story misspelled the last name of Levi Strauss & Co. CEO Chip Bergh. The story has been corrected.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Here are some of Thursday’s biggest gaining and declining stocks:

Gainers

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.
CTB, -2.24%
shares jumped 6% on an unconfirmed report that India’s Apollo Tyres is looking to expand into Europe and that acquiring Cooper could help it establish a foothold there.

DragonWave Inc.
US:DRWI
shares surged 11%. The company said its second-quarter loss narrowed as revenue improved. Plus, a gain from its recent acquisition of Nokia Siemens Networks’ microwave transport business boosted results. The provider of microwave-backhaul equipment to wireless carriers also said Gerry Spencer is stepping down as chairman for family reasons and will be replaced by director Claude Haw.

J.C. Penney Co.
JCP, -0.52%
shares advanced 8%, rising on news that the company’s new strategy may finally be showing signs of life. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Levi Strauss & Co. CEO Chip Bergh told investors that his company’s products are selling better at J.C. Penney.

New York Times Co.
NYT, -0.99%
shares rose 4% after Barclays upped its rating on the stock to overweight. The big reasons: stabilizing cash flows and the possibility the newspaper ramps up its dividend after asset sales that have boosted cash on hand. “The increase in circulation revenues from the company’s digital paywall is now meaningful enough to offset the decline in print advertising,” Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar wrote in a note. “The company is not only gaining digital subscribers, it is also adding to its Sunday home delivery subscriber base now after many years of decline.”

PrivateBancorp Inc.
US:PVTB
rose 6% after the bank sold $75 million in stock. Those funds, along with proceeds from a debt offering, will go toward redeeming preferred stock that PrivateBancorp issued under the federal government’s TARP program.

Sprint Nextel Corp.
S, -1.83%
scored the biggest percentage gain among S&P 500 index components, jumping 14%. The Wall Street Journal reported that Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp.
9984, -1.49%
is in advanced talks to buy the wireless company in a deal with a potential value that could top $12.8 billion. Sprint subsequently confirmed the talks. Read: Sprint jumps on deal talks with Softbank.

Decliners

Dollar Tree Inc.
DLTR, -1.05%
shares sank 8% as the discount retailer said third quarter sales are running at the low of its previous forecast. The stock closed as the biggest S&P 500 decliner.

MetroPCS Communications Inc.
US:PCS
shares fell 3%. The stock was cut to underperform by analysts at Oppenheimer & Co., following the prepaid wireless carrier’s deal announced last week with T-Mobile USA.

Safeway Inc.
US:SWY
dropped 4% on the supermarket chain’s third-quarter earnings report. Same-store sales continue to be very sluggish and gross margins were pinched. The supermarket chain stuck by its 2012 forecast for profits and free cash flow.

Voxx International Corp.
VOXX, +1.87%
shares fell 6%. Late Wednesday, the company trimmed its outlook for fiscal-2013 earnings and blamed weak business performance in Europe.

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